Recent Developments in Shock Isolation for Mars Mission InSight

Kurzfassung

The InSight mission was postponed from 2016 to launch in May 2018 when it will investigate the composition of planet Mars. DLRs HP³ instrument - a heat flow probe that hammers itself 5 meters into the Martian soil – is a key element of this mission. Though it was ready to launch in 2016 the delay has been used to further improve the instrument. The implications for the shock isolation system that is integrated into this probe are highlighted within this paper. Its task is to protect the sensors within the probe from the very high shock accelerations that are generated during hammering. The isolation system reduces the shock loads that the sensors encounter in the updated probe design by factor 31.